Apparatus for Recycling Noble Metals

ABSTRACT

The present invention provides an apparatus for recycling noble metals, which comprises a conveyer, one or more carriers, an immersion device, one or more dissolution devices, and one or more rinse devices. The carriers carry objects containing noble metals. The conveyer is used for conveying the carriers to the immersion device, the dissolution devices, and the rinse devices sequentially for recycling noble metals from the objects containing noble metals. The apparatus according to the present invention can recycle noble metals continuously. Thereby, the speed of recycling is enhanced, and the amount of recycled noble metals is increased as well.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a recycling apparatus, and particularlyto an apparatus for recycling noble metals.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

With advancement of technologies, the electronics industry developsprosperously. Waste derived from electronic components increases daily.The waste includes integrated circuits, printed circuit board,resistors, or capacitors, and comprising elements of copper, lead,aluminum, iron, and noble metals. If the waste is not recycled andprocessed appropriately, the environment will be polluted and, from theperspective of fully utilizing the noble metals, it is invisiblesquander.

The recycling process of waste containing metals is mainly focused onrecycling and reusing valuable metals including high-priced noble metalssuch as gold and palladium. For example, the waste containing gold comesfrom the integrated circuit industry and the printed circuit boardindustry. In the processes of thin-film deposition or metallization inthe integrated circuit industry, a lot of waste containing gold isproduced including replaced molds and derived waste from vapordeposition materials, waste liquid during gold metallization, wastewafers containing gold, gold powder, waste resins containing gold, wastecatalyst containing gold, and waste iodine liquid containing gold, etc.

As the electronics industry progresses towards the trend of smaller,thinner, and more efficient, the selection and development of materialsis crucial. For example, in the selection of electrode materials formultilayer ceramic capacitors, palladium is usually regarded as theelectrode material of choice owing to its superior conductivity and lowreactivity at high temperatures. However, because palladium is costly,it is important to recycle and reuse palladium effectively during thedevelopment of multilayer materials using palladium alloys.

Currently, there is no apparatus that can recycle noble metalssystematically. In most cases, recycling of noble metals is performedmanually. The present invention provides an apparatus for recyclingnoble metals systematically. Thereby, the speed of recycling isenhanced, and the amount of recycled noble metals is increased as well.

SUMMARY

An objective of the present invention is to provide an apparatus forrecycling noble metals, which can recycle noble metals continuously.Thereby, the speed of recycling is enhanced, and the amount of recyclednoble metals is increased as well.

Another objective of the present invention is to provide an apparatusfor recycling noble metals, which can recycle noble metalsautomatically.

In order to achieve the objectives described above, the presentinvention provides an apparatus for recycling noble metals, whichcomprises a conveyer, one or more carriers, an immersion device, one ormore dissolution devices, and one or more rinse devices. The carriersare set on the conveyer, which conveys the carriers to the immersiondevice, the dissolution devices, or the rinse devices. The carrierscarry objects containing noble metals, and are conveyed to the immersiondevice, the dissolution devices, and the rinse devices sequentially bythe conveyer for recycling noble metals.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows a schematic diagram of an apparatus according to apreferred embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 shows a schematic diagram of a carrier according to a preferredembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 shows a schematic diagram of a carrier according to anotherpreferred embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 shows a schematic diagram of an immersion device according toanother preferred embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 5 shows a schematic diagram of an apparatus according to anotherpreferred embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In order to make the structure and characteristics as well as theeffectiveness of the present invention to be further understood andrecognized, the detailed description of the present invention isprovided as follows along with preferred embodiments and accompanyingfigures.

FIG. 1 shows a schematic diagram of an apparatus according to apreferred embodiment of the present invention. As shown in the figure,the present invention provides an apparatus for recycling noble metals1, which comprises a conveyer 10, one or more carriers 12, an immersiondevice 14, one or more dissolution devices 16, and one or more rinsedevices 18. The conveyer 10 is a hoist, used for conveying the carrier12 to the immersion device 14, the dissolution devices 16, or the rinsedevices 18.

FIG. 2 shows a schematic diagram of a carrier according to a preferredembodiment of the present invention. As shown in the figure, the carrier12 carries an object containing noble metals, and comprises a body 121and a lid 123. The body 121 has an opening 1211, from which the objectcontaining noble metals is put into the body 121. The carrier 12 has aplurality of meshes 125. The carrier 12 carrying the object containingnoble metals is conveyed to the immersion device 14 by the conveyer 10.The immersion device 14 contains a solution, which is water. When thecarrier 12 carrying the object containing noble metals is immersed intothe solution contained by the immersion device 14, the solution entersthe carrier 12 via the plurality of meshes 125 thereof, and the objectcontaining noble metals will be soaked and spread.

Next, pull up the carrier 12 immersed in the immersion device 14 bymeans of the conveyer 10. The conveyer 10 then conveys the carrier 12 tothe dissolution device 16. The dissolution device 16 contains asolution, which can dissolve one or more noble metals contained in theobject containing noble metals. When the carrier 12 is immersed in thesolution contained in the dissolution device 16, the solution candissolve noble metals contained in the object containing noble metals,and leave the object containing few noble metals in the carrier 12.

Finally, pull up the carrier 12 immersed in the dissolution device 16 bymeans of the conveyer 10. The conveyer 10 then conveys the carrier 12containing the object containing few noble metals to the rinse device18. The rinse device 18 rinses the object containing few noble metalsand residual noble metals left on the object carried by the carrier 12.Thereby, noble metals can be recycled from the solution contained in thedissolution device 16 and the rinse device 18. It is known from abovedescription that the apparatus for recycling noble metals 1 according tothe present invention has a plurality of carriers 12, and can use theconveyer 10 to perform immersion, dissolution, and rinse proceduressequentially.

FIG. 3 shows a schematic diagram of a carrier according to anotherpreferred embodiment of the present invention. As shown in the figure,in order to make the object containing noble metals be soaked, spread,and dissolved uniformly and to make the object containing few noblemetals be rinsed uniformly, the carrier 12 further comprises a drivingdevice 127, which can drive the carrier 12 to spin.

FIG. 4 shows a schematic diagram of an immersion device according toanother preferred embodiment of the present invention. As shown in thefigure, the immersion device 14 further has a drain 141 set at thebottom of the immersion device 14. When the carrier 12 is pulled up fromthe immersion device 14, the solution contained in the immersion device14 is drained to the drain 141 from the bottom of the immersion device14.

FIG. 5 shows a schematic diagram of an apparatus according to anotherpreferred embodiment of the present invention. As shown in the figure,the present preferred embodiment provides an apparatus for recyclingnoble metals 1 automatically, which comprises a conveyer 10, one or morecarriers 12, an immersion device 14, one or more dissolution devices 16,and one or more rinse devices 18. In order to make the apparatus forrecycling noble metals 1 operate automatically, the apparatus forrecycling noble metals 1 further comprises a control device 12, which isconnected to the conveyer 10, and controls the conveyer 10 to convey theconveyer 12. In addition, a still device 15 is set between the immersiondevice 14 and the dissolution device 16; a still device 17 is setbetween the dissolution device 16 and the rinse device 18.

The conveyer 10 conveys the carrier 12 to the immersion device 14, thedissolution device 16, or the rinse device 18. The carrier 12 carries anobject containing noble metals. The carrier 12 carrying the objectcontaining noble metals is conveyed to the immersion device 14 by theconveyer 10. The immersion device 14 contains a solution, which iswater. When the carrier 12 carrying the object containing noble metalsis immersed into the solution contained by the immersion device 14, theobject containing noble metals will be soaked and spread.

Next, pull up the carrier 12 immersed in the immersion device 14 bymeans of the conveyer 10. The conveyer 10 then conveys the carrier 12 tothe still device 15 and still for a while. Afterwards, the conveyer 10conveys the carrier 12 to the dissolution device 16. The dissolutiondevice 16 contains a solution, which can dissolve one or more noblemetals contained in the object containing noble metals. When the carrier12 is immersed in the solution contained in the dissolution device 16,the solution can dissolve noble metals contained in the objectcontaining noble metals, and leave the object containing few noblemetals in the carrier 12.

Finally, pull up the carrier 12 immersed in the dissolution device 16 bymeans of the conveyer 10. The conveyer 10 then conveys the carrier 12 tothe still device 17 and still for a while. Afterwards, the conveyer 10conveys the carrier 12 containing the object containing few noble metalsto the rinse device 18. The rinse device 18 rinses the object containingfew noble metals and residual noble metals left on the object carried bythe carrier 12. Thereby, noble metals can be recycled from the solutioncontained in the dissolution device 16 and the rinse device 18. Theapparatus for recycling noble metals 1 according to the presentpreferred embodiment has a plurality of carriers 12, and can use theconveyer 10 to hoist the carriers 12 and to perform immersion, still,dissolution, still, and rinse procedures sequentially.

As shown in FIG. 3, in order to make the object containing noble metalsbe soaked, spread, and dissolved uniformly and to make the objectcontaining few noble metals be rinsed uniformly, the carrier 12 furthercomprises a driving device 127, which is connected to the control device19. The control device 19 controls the driving device 127, and thedriving device 127 drives the carrier 12 to spin.

To sum up, the present invention provides an apparatus for recyclingnoble metals, which can recycle noble metals continuously. The apparatusfor recycling noble metals is an automatic apparatus. Thereby, the speedof recycling is enhanced, and the amount of recycled noble metals isincreased as well.

Accordingly, the present invention conforms to the legal requirementsowing to its novelty, non-obviousness, and utility. However, theforegoing description is only a preferred embodiment of the presentinvention, not used to limit the scope and range of the presentinvention. Those equivalent changes or modifications made according tothe shape, structure, feature, or spirit described in the claims of thepresent invention are included in the appended claims of the presentinvention.

1. An apparatus for recycling noble metals, comprising: a conveyer; oneor more carriers, carrying an object containing noble metals, set on theconveyer, and conveyed by the conveyer; an immersion device, containinga solution, and the carrier carrying the object containing noble metalsimmersing in the immersion device; one or more dissolution device,containing a solution, the carrier immersing in the dissolution devicefor dissolving, and the solution dissolving the noble metals containedin the object containing noble metals; and one or more rinse device,rinsing the carrier, and washing the noble metals out of the objectcontaining noble metals for recycling the noble metals from thedissolution device and the rinse device.
 2. The apparatus for recyclingnoble metals of claim 1, wherein the converyer is a hoist.
 3. Theapparatus for recycling noble metals of claim 1, and further comprisinga control device, connecting to and controlling the conveyer.
 4. Theapparatus for recycling noble metals of claim 1, wherein the carrierfurther comprises a driving device, driving the carrier to spin.
 5. Theapparatus for recycling noble metals of claim 4, and further comprisinga control device, connecting to and controlling the conveyer. And thedriving device.
 6. The apparatus for recycling noble metals of claim 1,wherein the carrier comprises: a body, having an opening, and the objectcontaining noble metals being put from the opening; and a lid, set onthe opening.
 7. The apparatus for recycling noble metals of claim 1,wherein the carrier has a plurality of meshes.
 8. The apparatus forrecycling noble metals of claim 1, wherein the solution contained in theimmersion device is water.
 9. The apparatus for recycling noble metalsof claim 1, wherein the immersion further comprises a drain, drainingthe solution contained in the immersion device.
 10. The apparatus forrecycling noble metals of claim 1, wherein the solution contained in thedissolution device can dissolve the noble metals.
 11. The apparatus forrecycling noble metals of claim 1, wherein a still device is further setbetween the immersion device and the dissolution device.
 12. Theapparatus for recycling noble metals of claim 1, wherein a still deviceis further set between the dissolution device and the rinse device.